The Dutch House

Cyril Conroy builds a real estate fortune after the Second World War, starting from a lucky break and one shrewd investment. His first purchase is the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside Philadelphia, bought as a surprise for his wife. The gift starts to unravel the lives of everyone he loves.

Danny, Cyril's son, narrates. He and his older sister Maeve, sharp-tongued and sure of herself, are driven out of their childhood home by their stepmother. Rich children become poor ones overnight, back in the poverty their parents had left behind, and each has only the other to rely on.

The novel is a dark fairy tale that runs across five decades. Danny and Maeve do well by every outside measure, yet they are at ease only in each other's company. Again and again they go back over what they lost, with humor and with rage. Their closeness keeps them alive and also holds back what they might have become.

Late in the book they are made to face the people who abandoned them, and the bond between an indulged younger brother and a fiercely protective older sister is put to the test. The pace is quick, driven by the need to know what happens, though the focus stays on the two siblings and what a lost home does to them across a lifetime.